Page 74 of Sunkissed Colorado

“Z—”

I turned to him, pleading with my eyes. “I…I liked what we just did. Even if that was the most reckless thing I’ve ever done. But we got that out of our system, and it’s finished now.”

His mouth opened like he might disagree, but nothing came out. Because he knew I was right.

We were still competing for the general manager position. This had been a one-time indiscretion. And his reputation spoke for itself. Neither of us wanted anything…more.

I couldn’t afford to.

EIGHTEEN

Zandra

OperationStay Awayfrom Callumwas well underway.

Callum and I had gone back to carrying out our Hearthstone duties separately. But this time, there was no animosity behind our enforced separation. More like self-preservation.

If I was calling vendors, he was working on the schedule and handling employee issues. If I was going over menu changes with Alice, then Callum was troubleshooting the brewing operation with Russ. We were polite and professional, but nothing more.

Anything to avoid being alone with him. Or, heaven forbid, talking about what had happened.

Because part of medidwant to do it again. I couldn’t stop thinking about how good he’d felt. How he’d made me shameless, and it had been more satisfying than any sexual experience I’d ever had. No wonder he’d had an endless parade of women through his bed even in high school.

Callum was…ugh. Dangerous.

Hard to say which scenario would be worse. That we’d keep hooking up and then Grandpa—and the rest of Silver Ridge—would find out.

Or that Callum would lose interest, and I’d bethe stupid girl panting after the town’s most notorious man-whore.Such an offensive term, I know. But it was true.

I couldn’t trust myself around him.

At least we were a month into the trial period. Halfway through. I could make it through another month of this, right? Another month of keeping my distance. Not sharing jokes and morning lattes and cooking lessons. Four more weeks of pretending I didn’t miss spending time with him.

After one of us got the job, then that person would be the boss. And this ridiculous pull I felt toward Callum would have to end.

The following Sunday after the storage roomencounter, I pulled into a familiar gravel driveway. My tires crunched over the small stones that led to Grandpa’s modest ranch house.

The place wasn’t fancy by any means, but it sat on nearly ten acres of pine-dotted land that stretched back into the foothills. The nearest neighbor was a quarter mile away, hidden behind a stand of aspen trees. Grandpa had always valued his privacy.

He’d gone home from the hospital weeks ago and was now terrorizing his in-home nurse instead of the hospital ones. He’d even made a couple of visits to Hearthstone, putting the team through a surprise inspection, though it had exhausted him.

I was here today for our standing Sunday visit, which was also a convenient way to avoid Sunday dinners with my parents.Win.

I usually brought chicken nuggets, sometimes bringing Rosie along with me. But today it was just me, and I’d brought something different for him to try.

The door was unlocked as usual, so I went ahead inside. “Grandpa? I’m here.”

I heard his voice coming from the living room. “Zandra! Finally, someone Iwantto see.”

His nurse streaked past me, heading for the kitchen. She gave me a long-suffering look.Sorry, I mouthed on my wayto the living room.

“How are you feeling today?” I set my purse down and walked over to kiss his forehead.

“Like hell. I’ve been thinking about hiring someone to come redo my walls so I can watch the paint dry. It would be better than the crap they put on TV anymore.”

I hummed understandingly. As I always did when he made this same exact speech. “Sounds rough.”

“They’ve got me shuffling around on that infernal walker when I’d rather take a nap. Can’t go by myself to the toilet to move my bowels in privacy. What’d you bring me? Nuggets?”